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Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council. Protecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management. Wildfire September 29, 2009. Neville Connell President, Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Wildfire
September 29, 2009
Neville ConnellPresident, Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
A Few Questions about Wildfires
How are wildfires different now than in the past?
Are there better ways to protect people and the
environment?
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Richard Dana observed:- that in the summer of 1834 a wildfire burnt the town of Santa Barbara to the ground
- that severe storms frequently brought high southerly winds and rain to California
- by 1859 wildfires were still common but severe winter storms were becoming much less frequent
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Temperature
PineappleExpresses
North PacificStorms
Source: Berkelhammer 2007
Wetter
Drier
Rainfall
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Time of Year for Fire Ignitions
575 ignitions in the last 5 years in the Cleveland NF
- 350 by people
- 50 by lightning
- 40 by mechanical equipment
- others by many smaller miscellaneous categories (including power lines)
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
The Great Fire of 1910 - the “Big Blow Up”
3 million acres burnt in Washington, Idaho and Montana
The largest wildfire in American history - still
USFS adopted the doctrine of fire suppression - “the asbestos forest”
Unintended consequences:
- accumulation of fuels- larger, longer burning wildfires with greater potential for devastation and loss of life.
Source: Professor Morgan Varmer, Forestry & Wildland Resources Department, Humboldt State University
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Fire Intensity
40-Year old Chaparral 10-Year old Chaparral
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
GREATER ALPI NE
FI RE SAFE COUNCI L
ConclusionLarge wildfires
occur every 30 years or so in San Diego
County
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Are there more wildfires this decade?
Most dangerous wildfireareas in San Diego County
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
Conditions in San Diego CountyYesteryear Today
Wetter Drier
Average temperatures Average temperatures
Ignitions by lightning (calm, Indians) Ignitions by people (Santa Ana)
Healthy, younger chaparral Ancient, dry or dead chaparral
Diverse ecosystem More limited diversity
“Conditions for Perfect Fire Storms”
Greater Alpine Fire Safe CouncilProtecting the Alpine community from wildfire and preserving Alpine’s natural and manmade resources through education, land stewardship and fuels management
A Better Way to Protect People and Environment
Return to the Indian practice of using controlled burns as an essential aspect of land management, rejuvenating the landscape in a cyclical manner, and preventing a massive build-up of highly combustible fuels.
Where prescribed burns are impractical, reduce fuels by mechanical treatment (“mastication”)
The result:
- a healthy, frequently burned landscape where new fires move into old fires and put themselves out - a return to the healthy ecological environment that we had before the Big Blow Up
Source: Professors Varmer and Stuart, Forestry & Wildland Resources Department, Humboldt State University
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